On balance, I decided I wasn’t too disappointed about the death of the dragon. Fiery bolts from overhead might well come in handy when the invasion of Eriador is underway, but the thing you have to remember about dragons is that they’re not entirely on your side. They burn through orc armies as quickly as they do those of your enemies, and while orcs won’t be hard to come by, I prefer some elegance to proceedings.

Besides, I had bigger fish to fry. Elvish fish. One glimpse of the Arkenstone and Thranduil was slavering. This is going to be easy.